Time-controlled switch



March 17, 1931. ECQNOMQS 7 1,797,079

TIME CONTROLLED SWITCK Filed Dec. 28. 1929 INVENTOR.

270%)? If, Economas A TTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 17, 1931 i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOHN N. ECONOMOS, OF, WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA TIME-CGNTROLL'ED SWITCH Application filed December 28, 1929. Serial No. 417,139.

This invention relates to time controlled ringmechanism. However, instead'of having electric switches especially adapted to turn fastened thereto'the usual handle other mechon and oflthe parking lights of automobiles. anism is used instead as will be presently The principal object of the invention is to described. Likewise on the usual stem 8 used provide a device of this kind consisting-of a to set the minute and hour hand is fastened 65 clock mechanism and means associated with other mechanism which will be presently dethe clock mechanism to turn on and 01f an scribed.

electric switch. The stem 8 which is a part of a standard Another object of the invention is to con alarm clock as noted in Figure makes one 10 stru'ct a device of this character having complete revolution every hour. To serve 60 means to regulate the time in which to turn the purpose "of this invention it is necessary on and off the parking light. to use a substitute stem '9 which will revolve Other objects will appear as the disclosure once a day.' To bring about this result a progresses. The drawings are merely inset of reduction gearing is used as follows:

tended to indicate a possible embodiment of The relatively small driving gear 10 fixed 65 the invention. It is obvious that the actual on the stem 8 meshes with a larger gear 11 needs of manufacture may necessitate cerkeyed on the stem 12. At the top of this tain mechanical changes. It is therefore not stem 12 is another small gear 13 which intended to limit the invention to the emmeshes with a larger gear 14 keyed to the bot bodiment shown in the drawings but rather tom of shaft 9. The gears are so pro- 70 to define such limits in the appended claims. portioned that for each twenty-four revolu- For a more general understanding of the intions of the driving gear 10 the shaft 9 revention attention is called to the drawings. volves once.

In these drawings like reference characters Attached to the stem 7 is a short arm 15 denotelike parts throughout the s ecification. and a long T-shaped arm 16. This last 75 Figure 1 is a front View of the evice. mentioned arm is used to wind up the spring Figure 2 is a rear view showing the switch by an anti-clockwise rotation which in the operating mechanism in its normal position. ordinary alarm clocks provides the motive Figure 3 is a fragmentary rear view showpower for operating the bell ringing mech- 39 ing the switch operating mechanism in its anism. It also serves another purpose which 59 second position. will be presently described.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary rear view show- Pivoted on the bolt 17 is a fork 18 having ing the switch operating mechanism in its a projecting arm 19 at the bottom and a third position. shoulder 20 in one of the fork members. Figure 5 is a section on line 55 of Fig- Keyed to the stem 9 is a cam 21 provided 843 ure 2. with a slot 22 in which fits the end of the lever Figure 6 is a section on line 6-6 of Figure 23 movable in a guide 24. The opposite end 1 showlng the clock partly turned around on of the lever is attached to an oscillating arm its 'ivots. 25 pivoted on the pivot 26 and having ,a igure 7 is a section on line 77 of Figdownwardly projecting end- 27. Numeral ure 1. 28 designates a plate of insulating material Figure 8 is a fragmentary detail. to which are fastened two contact points 29 Referring now to the drawings in detail and 30. Attached to these contact points are numeral 1 designates a standard alarm clock wires 31 and 32 leading to a source of curhaving the usual minute and hour hands 2 rent 33. In series with the contact points and 3 and the alarm setting hand 4. On the and source of current is the parking light 34. rear is the usual main spring winding handle The clock is adapted to be set in the dash- 5 and the knob 6 for setting the alarm hand. boar-(135 of the vehicle. The face of the clock Numeral 7 represents the stem projecting out is used as an ordinary timepiece while the y of the casing used for winding up the alarm operating and adjusting mechanism is at the 1m back. In order to get at the back for winding, adjusting and regulating, the clock is arranged so that it can be turned on its p1voting points 36 and 37 as shown in Figure 6. The pivoting mechanism consists of a shaft 38 at the top of the clock and a shaft 39 at the bottom provided with a shoulder 40 and a slot 41. The shaft 38 fits in a hole 41 in the periphery of the circular opening 42 at the top and the shaft 39 fits in a hole 42 at the bottom while'the slot 41 registers with the wedge 43. Placed around the shaft 38 is a compression spring 44 for normally pressing the clock downwardly and preventing any vibration of the clock mechanism. It will thus be seen that when the clock is on a level plane with the dash the clock will be normally latched in place due to the wedge and slot construction. When turning around the clock for regulating orwinding, the clock will be automatically lifted against the spring 44 until the shoulder 40 rides on the edge of the wedge 48. When turned back in the position shown in Figure 1 the wedge will slip back again into the slot 41.

The operation of this device is as follows. Say it is desired to turn on the parking light at6 p. in. and turn it off at 6 a; in. The arm 45 keyed on the stem 9 is first placedin the position as shown in Figure 2, the alarm setting hand in the position as shown in Figure 1 and the main and secondary springs wound up. The main spring is wound up by the handle 5 and the secondary spring by the arm 16. hen the hands 2 and 3 indicate 6 oclock the stem 7 in the well known manner as is usual in alarm clocks will commence to revolve clockwise. The arms and 16 keyed to this stem will revolve with it until the end of the arm 15 is caught on the shoulder of the fork as indicated in Figure 3. In this position the T-shaped head of the arm 16 will bridge the gap between the contacts 29 and as shown in Figure 3 and close an electric circuit and thereby light the parking light 34. In the meantime the arm will revolve until the end will come in contact with the arm 19 of the fork and swing the fork in the position shown in Figure 4. Although the arm 15 will be released from resting on the shoulder 20 of the fork the saidarm and its associated parts will not move for the reason that by this time the hands 2 and 3 have advanced approximately eight hours. It might be said here that in the ordinary alarm clocks when the alarm is set off. the alarm will ring for approximately five minutes. As soon as the five minutes are over the usual trip mechanism common to these clocks will stop the alarm and consequently the stem 7 which is a part of the standard alarm clock will be kept from revolving. As the clock mechanism used in this device is of this kind, the arms 15 and 16 will not move until it is twelve hours later or 6 a. m. At this hour the stem 7 will commence to revolve again until the end of the arm 15 points to the left and is caught by the end 27 of the lever 25 as shown in Figure 8 and the rotation stopped. When the arm takes this position the fork will be caused to move back to its original position as shown in Figure 2 by the end of the arm sliding against the left portion of the fork.

The lever 25 is oscillated by the action of the cam 21. lVhen the arm 45 is in the position shown in Figure 2 corresponding to six oclock the cam will cause the lever 25 to swing to the left and allow the arm and its associated parts to go through the same movements again. The parking light burns only when the arm 16 is in the position shown in Figures 3 and 4 or from six a. m. to six p. m. However, the setting can be regulated by moving the hand 4 so that the parking light can be turned on earlier or later as the case may be. The cam 21 controls the movement of the levers 23 and 25 so that about half of the time the lever 25 is in the position shown in Figure 2 and the other half of the time in the position shown in Figure 4.

Once the clock springs which correspond to the main and alarm springs of the standard alarm clocks are wound up the action of the device is entirely automatic.

If the alarm setting hand is set at 6 oclock when that time comes the release mechanism used in the standard alarm clocks will allow the lever 16 to turn until it bridges the gap between the contact points 29 and 30 and thereby turn on the parking light. l/Vhen it is twelve hours later or six oclock again the lever 16 will revolve back to its original position as shown in Figure 2 and the parking light will be turned off. The arms 15 and 16 revolve together as they are both keyed to the same shaft.

This device is not only limited to parking lights but can be used with slight modifications to turn on and off gas burners or control other mechanism.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a time controlled switch of the class described, the combination of an arm revolving once every twenty-four homes, of a pivoted lever for making and breakingthe current of said switch, a cam revolving in unison with said arm, means operated by said cam for latching and unlatching the said le- 1 ver at predetermined intervals in order to turn on and off the electric current and means operated by said arm for latching and unlatching-said lever at different intervals of time than the first mentioned means.

2. In a time controlled switch of the class described, the combination of an arm revolving once every twenty-four hours, of a cam revolving in unison with said arm, ahorizontal lever actuated by said cam, a verti- .llii

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cal pivoted lever having a downwardly bent end movable by said horizontal lever, an 0scillating fork actuated by said arm, a pivoted switch element, means to latch and unlatch the switch element by said vertical lever at a predetermined time, and means to latch and unlatch said switch element by said 0scillating fork at different intervals of time than the first mentioned latching means.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

JOHN N. ECONOMOS. 

